Selection of Fine Dunhuang Calligraphy (1)

Author: Huang Zheng (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: Oracle bone script, Western Han bamboo slips, Dunhuang manuscripts, and the imperial archives of the Qing court are collectively known as the "Four Great Discoveries" in the history of textual studies. However, from the perspective of calligraphy history, oracle bone script, Han bamboo slips, and Western frontier manuscripts serve as a crucial key to revisiting and reinterpreting the history of calligraphy. With oracle bone script, we recognize the beauty but unreliable nature of ancient mythological accounts of character creation, and we also understand the historical limitations of tracing written characters back only to the gold inscriptions of the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou dynasties before the Song Dynasty. Additionally, the discovery of Western Han bamboo slips and later unearthed bamboo slips from Central China and the Xiang-Chu regions allows us to appreciate the vivid, lifelike, and richly expressive brushwork alongside the monumental stone inscriptions of the Qin and Han dynasties. This not only provides corroborating evidence but also challenges our traditional interpretations of some canonical calligraphic works.
Then there are the Dunhuang manuscripts. Their emergence reveals that, in the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties periods, alongside the universally revered calligrapher Wang Xizhi, there existed numerous diverse, folk-based writing styles—less concerned with technical perfection and more varied in form—unfettered by rigid classical conventions. These styles effectively complement our overly simplistic understanding of tradition and classicism, even forming an aesthetic tradition of folk and popular calligraphy that stands in contrast to the canonical styles.
Furthermore, when these manuscripts are particularly associated with Buddhist scriptures and copying practices during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, we almost instinctively recognize them as a form of religious calligraphy. Indeed, it is possible to trace a significant lineage in Chinese calligraphy history—religious calligraphy—that ranges from works inscribed with Buddhist or Daoist content to calligraphic styles that fully embody religious spirit.